California State University, Fresno is requesting funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to train an Extramural Associate (EA) who will become a change agent for facilitating increased faculty participation in research within the institution. The EA will establish the Office of Research Development (ORD) under the existing Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) upon successful completion of the 10-week residency training at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The EA will develop seminars and workshops to disseminate information about the NIH grant opportunities to science faculty, targeting women and underrepresented minority faculty, and will assist them in developing academic writing skills as well as writing scientifically rigorous grant applications. The EA will identify and recruit undergraduate and graduate students, especially women and minority students, from health science disciplines and provide them with research training interdisciplinary experiences in the science labs and research centers as research assistants. The EA's major responsibility will be to advise these students and encourage them to pursue careers in science and health-related research. The Grants and Research Advisory Board will serve as advisory to the EA in the establishment and maintenance of ongoing research development activities, review pilot research studies, and recommend them for submission to the NIH. The long-term outcome of the project will be an enhanced culturally competent and scientifically rigorous health care for individuals, families, and communities in areas of unmet need in the San Joaquin Valley. The immediate outcomes will include: (1) an annual 5% increase in the number of women and underrepresented minority faculty and students engaged in health-related research;(2) enhanced skills in grant writing as measured by the number of submitted and funded grant applications compared to the previous year;(3) an annual 5% increase in scholarly productivity as measured by the number of articles and manuscripts published or accepted for publication;and (4) a viable faculty and student research mentoring program in place as measured by the number of faculty/student collaborative initiatives.